Patent literature 1: JP 2013-192090A
In order to improve a control of a vehicle and to enrich service in the vehicle, onboard apparatuses such as an electronic control unit (ECU) are mutually connected through a communication line, and a local area network (so-called, an in-vehicle LAN) is provided. The onboard apparatus share information. A certain communication protocol such as a controller area network (CAN), a local interconnect network (LIN), is often used in the in-vehicle LAN.
Communication is performed in a vehicle between the outside tool (also referred to as a vehicle-outside apparatus) and an onboard apparatus that is connected to the in-vehicle LAN. According to the technology, a diagnosis of a vehicle status or a rewriting processing of a program (a reprogramming) is performed. Patent literature 1 performs communication between the vehicle-outside apparatus and the onboard apparatus connected to the in-vehicle LAN through a relay apparatus mounted to a vehicle.
The inventors of the present application have found the following.
In a field of communication between the vehicle-outside apparatus and the onboard apparatus connected to the in-vehicle LAN, Ethernet (registered trademark) is becoming introduced. A communication speed of the Ethernet is faster than communication speed of CAN and LIN. For example, a relay apparatus is connected to a vehicle-outside apparatus through the Ethernet, receives a communication frame that is transmitted from the vehicle-outside apparatus, and transmits the received communication frame to an onboard apparatus that is also connected with the Ethernet. Incidentally, the vehicle-outside apparatus is an apparatus that is located outside the vehicle.
Between the vehicle-outside apparatus and the onboard apparatus, communication that should be performed only by an authorized operator is performed. For example, the communication that should be operated only by the authorized operator includes the rewriting processing of the program. Incidentally, the communication that should be operated only by the authorized operator may also be referred to as communication that should not be performed by a person (an unauthorized operator) other than an authorized operator. Thus, it may be preferred that the relay apparatus has a function preventing the communication with the vehicle-outside apparatus operated by the person other than the authorized person. Incidentally, the vehicle-outside apparatus operated by the person other than the authorized person may also be referred to as an unauthorized vehicle-outside apparatus.
When a processing load on the relay apparatus increases in order to provide the function preventing the communication with the unauthorized vehicle-outside apparatus, the communication speed between the vehicle-outside apparatus and the onboard apparatus may lower.